Sunday, January 5, 2025

January 4th at the Tokyo Dome

The history Tokyo Dome opened on March 17, 1988 and just over a year later on April 24, 1989 New Japan Pro Wrestling promoted the first wrestling event at the venue.  In 1992 NJPW began what would become an annual tradition as the Dome hosted the first January 4th show entitled Super Warriors in Tokyo Dome and saw IWGP Heavyweight Champion: Riki Choshu defeat Greatest 18 Club Champion: Tatsumi Fujinami to unify the titles.


For the last 33 years New Japan has transformed this annual show into their biggest show of the year.  2007 was the first year that it was called WrestleKingdom and that name has held ever since.

I've often talked about WrestleMania IV being the first time I watched WrestleMania live and I've never missed watching Mania live since then.  Since 2015 I have not missed a live WrestleKingdom or January 4th show.  In 2015, New Japan in a partnership with Jeff Jarrett WrestleKingdom 9 was available on PPV live in the United States.  From 2016 to today I have watched it on New Japan World.

From 2003 to 2014 I would find a bootleg copy of the show on VHS or DVD and later a torrent download.  In 2008 TNA Wrestling released the DVD Global Impact Japan which had 7 completed matches from the WrestleKingdom II that involved the TNA wrestlers. After getting New Japan World I went back and watched all of the January 4th show.


It's rather refreshing knowing that show is going to be held on the same day every year instead of waiting for the shows to be announced.  For instance WrestleMania's date has varied from as early as March 14th in 2004 and as late as April 20th in 2025.

Since 2015 if I am schedule to work I have taken a vacation day so I can watch the event live as it happens.  Spoilers were easier to avoid a decade ago, not so much today.  This year, 2025, January 4th fell on a Saturday, and because at 3am Eastern  Time, pre-show at 2am.  I got up at 2:45am and watched the event live, it was an excellent show overall, was very happy to see Zack Sabre Jr. retain his title in the main event.


I took a nap so I could be rested for Wrestle Dynasty, a joint show between with NJPW, ROH, AEW, CMLL, Stardom, & DDT PRO being represented, also taking place at the Tokyo Dome.  With the time difference, the Wrestle Dynasty Pre-show actually started at 10pm Eastern Time on January 4th! So after watching AEW Collision I switched over to New Japan World.  Wrestle Dynasty was a better show than Wrestle Kingdom this year.

I've long been a fan of New Japan Pro Wrestling their style and presentation and I enjoyed them much more than WWE.  Their partnership with Ring of Honor was the best part of ROH.  I was excited when AEW came along and their eventual partnership was New Japan made them even more appealing.  I like wrestling better that tell their stories in the ring and not with 30 minute talking segments. 

Originally Wrestle Dynasty was supposed to mark New Japan's return to Madison Square Garden on August 22, 2020, but covid killed that.  My buddy Jay & I fully planned on going, but it was cancelled before tickets event went on sale. 


I will always got to New Japan if I have the opportunity.  I do hope to one day be in attendance at the Tokyo Dome on a January 4th.

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment, check out my other posts, and if you want like my blogs Facebook page.  You can also head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of my book the 2024 Limitless Wrestling Almanac, or any of my other books.

Until next time!

Wednesday, January 1, 2025

The Cost of Being A Wrestling Fan: December 2024

Here we go with my December spending for my passion, pro wrestling


I bought a couple actions figures this month, the "Timeless" Toni Storm ringside collectibles exclusive, and the Mattel Wendi Richter retro figure in they style of the Hasbro WWF line.  I also bought two AEW figures from the Ringside sale, Trent & Chuck Taylor for the Limitless toy drive, all together that was $61.86.  

On the trading card side of things this month I bought a Tully Blanchard NWA Wonderama and a Steph DeLander Christmas theme card direct from her, they totaled $21.95.  I really want a Stephanie Vaquer WWE card and bought into another box break, I paid a bit more $28.80 but didn't read all the fine print. It was panini select and the case of 10 boxes was only 30 cards, one 3 card pack per box.  All the cards were limited numbers for autographs, so I get it, but had I read the auction more clearly I would not have gone for it.  Needless to say, there was no Stephanie Vaquer cards pulled so spent $28.80 on a chance and it didn't pay off.

My monthly streaming services were $37.23, I also got a month of Honor Club at $9.99 to watch the Final Battle event, and my share of the AEW World's End PPV was $11.50. 

I attended 3 wrestling shows this month.  The first was in Quebec City, Quebec for NSPW: North Shore Pro Wrestling.  My son and I were in Quebec the previous night for our annual Hockey Trip, you can read all the details here: Quebec Wrestling Adventure.  

When factoring expenses for this one I took into consideration that we stayed an extra night, the food involved in that, plus the extra mileage we drove from Riviere-de-Loup to Quebec City and back, the gas we used had we only stayed one night instead of 2 nights.  I've also converted the Canadian Currency into US Dollars.

The hotel was $122.70, gas, food, and snacks was $94.19, with 306 miles driven.  Tickets for the show were $31.46, I spent $21 to get Stu Grayson to sign a couple cards for me and $30 for Trevor Lee to sign 4 for me.  He said he's never seen all 3 PWG cards together.


We also went to the Museum of Civilization where they had a year long display on the history of Professional Wrestling Quebec.  Parking for the museum was $10.81 and admission was $33.88.

My next show was Limitless Wrestling in Yarmouth, my ticket was $40 and I spent $22.57 on gas and snacks, I drove 74 miles.

My final wrestling show of 2024 was NXT in Lowell, Massachusetts.  I bought my ticket in November and that was accounted for last month.  My share of Gas, Parking, & Tolls, was only $27 with 319.6 miles driven.  Food and Snacks came to $23.94.

My final wrestling expense of the year was on December 31st as my buddy Calvin was able to get two cards signed for me by Kris Statlander at Beyond Wrestling's "Heavy Lies The Crown" for $20. 

You can find the page with the links to all the previous months here: The Cost of Being A Wrestling Fan

I have one more post to follow that summarizes the expenses for the year.  I'm not sure if I am going to continue this to next year or not.  

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment, check out my other posts, and if you want like my blogs Facebook page.  You can also head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of my book the 2024 Limitless Wrestling Almanac, or any of my other books.

Until next time!

Saturday, December 28, 2024

2024 My Year in Wrestling!

In my 2023 year in review I stated I was not going to to try to top the 27 events I went to that year this year, but I did as I made it to 34 wrestling related events between shows and wrestling related experiences.  This is also the most events I have ever gone to in one year.  I have no expectations that in 2025 I will go to more, and I'm not going to try.

2024 by the Numbers

34 wrestling events

18 different promotions, 9 first time attending

2 different countries, 4 States, 1 new Province
US: Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, & Pennsylvania
Canada: Quebec City, Quebec

I went to shows in Maine, Mass, & PA last year, however this was the first time I've been to wrestling in New Hampshire since July 19, 2008 when I attended Front Row Wrestling in Rochester, NH.

356 Lifetime events

As I have stated in the past, it might be a bit controversial but when I'm counting my wrestling related events that I attended, I count everything that I went to because of wrestling.  For instance this year I went the Nemeth Brother's comedy show Hunkamania in Philadelphia and I count that as a wrestling related event.

January started out with two shows, the 12th with ¡Let’s Wrestle! debuting at the Fairfield Community Center.  The main event was the first ever Steel Cage match in ¡Let’s Wrestle! as Champion BRG successfully turned back the challenge of Eric Johnson.


On the 20th at Limitless Wrestling in Yarmouth the main event saw an unsanctioned match and the end of MSP as Aiden Aggro pinned The Dangerkid in 49 minutes marking the final match of The DangerKid.  

February featured two events, February 4th was the return of Mariner's Hockey with a wrestling show this time being promoted by the EWA: Eastern Wrestling Alliance.  This was first official EWA event that I have attended since their relaunch.  A stacked card with Dango, Scotty 2 Hotty, Tommy Dreamer, Colt Cabana, Shannon Moore, Heath Miller, Brian Myers and more.  

February 24th I attended Limitless Wrestling in Yarmouth with Ace vs. Sami Callihan in a street fight, and Alec Price vs. Lio Rush in a fantastic match.

March featured 1 event on the 22nd, the NAWA: North Atlantic Wrestling Association benefit show at Mt. Ararat High School in Topsham that had "Mr. USA" Tony Atlas in the main event tag teaming with Cousin Larry.

April featured  14 events two in Maine and the rest in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for IndieMania weekend!  You can read all about our Mania adventures in these 5 blog posts...


Back home in Maine, April 12th I attended NAWA at the Fairfield Community Center, that was a benefit show for the local baseball team and had a 16 person royal rumble style match.  On April 13th Limitless Wrestling in Yarmouth that had a TREMENDOUS match between Gabby Forza and Megan Bayne.  These two are must watch whenever they wrestle each other.

May had one event, back at the Fairfield Community Center on the 4th for ¡Let’s Wrestle! where BRG retained his ¡Let’s Wrestle! Championship in the Main Event against Jason Maverick.

June had one event with Limitless Wrestling on the 23rd, this time in Herman at the Morgan Hill Event Center.  AEW's Bulk Bronson teamed with Gabby Forza to defeat The Cosmic Cuties: Ava & LSG and Channing retained the Limitless Championship against Danhausen in the Maine event.  

July, also one event on the 20th with Limitless Wrestling back in Yarmouth.  The final show before the Vacationland Cup finalized the 4 competitors in the tournament and also saw Limitless Champion Channing Thomas defeat ¡Let’s Wrestle! Champion: BRG to become a double champion.

August 17th Limitless Wrestling presented The 2024 Vacationland Cup at the Colisee in Lewiston featuring their largest crowd to date of over 1,200 fans in attendance. Dezmond Cole, Gabby Forza, Alec Price, and Aaron Rourke all advanced to the finals where Cole emerged as the 2024 Vacationland Cup winner.
  

September featured two events on back to back nights.  The 20th in Worcester, Massachusetts for Big Time Wrestling featuring Sting and the 21st back in Yarmouth for Limitless Wrestling.  Big Time Wrestling was held at Polar Park and it was a pleasant evening outside.  Tommy Dreamer got the win over Channing Thomas, and Teddy Goodz pinned Danny Miles to win the BTW Championship.  Goodz would final wrestling match was that weekend.

Limitless saw their World Championship change hands as Dezmond Cole pinned Channing Thomas in the main event.  Also on the card IWTV Tag Team Champions: Fresh Air defeated fellow Canadians Le Tabernak du Team and Dijak defeated Jake Something in an awesome match.

October 4th I traveled to Palmyra for RINGWARS for their debut shows that featured matches from competing Maine Indie Companies.  On the 26th Limitless Wrestling was in Yarmouth with Fresh Blood that featured Japan based Kyushu Pro wrestlers Jet Wei and Kodai Nozaki as well as the debut of Zilla Fatu.  However the biggest betrayal saw Delmi Exo turn on her Sea Stars partner, and sister Ashley Vox to side with Paris Van Dale.

November I went to 3 events, the first on the 6th in Manchester, New Hampshire for AEW Dynamite at the SNHU Arena.  I wasn't expecting to go to an AEW show this year, they seem to keep happening in New England when I have conflicting plans.  This was their New Hampshire debut, we got a couple dark matches, a Ring of Honor match with Shibata!!  I've always wanted to see him wrestle live and I'm glad I finally was able too.  The live Dynamite was decent with Adam Cole vs. Malachi Black and The Learning Tree vs. The Conglomeration.  

Two days later on the 8th in Lowell, Mass at the Memorial Auditorium for New Japan Pro Wrestling's Fighting Spirit Unleashed.  This was the first wrestling show at the venue since NJPW in September 2019.  This was a FANTASTIC show with great matches, including a title change as the Grizzled Young Vets captured the NJPW Strong Tag Team titles.  I also met Zack Sabre Jr. before the show.

November 29th, Black Friday, I was back at the Fairfield Community Center for my 4th show of the year, and 65th overall at the venue for NAWA.

December finished the year with 4 wrestling related events.  First on the 7th in Quebec City, Quebec at the Museum of Civilization for Lutte: Quebec in the Ring exhibit.  I will be putting together a complete blog on that wonderful exhibit.  That night, also in Quebec City, we attended NSPW: North Shore Pro Wrestling: Final Chapter 2024.  



The show featured Trevor Lee, Stu Grayson  and a whole host of Canadian wrestlers.  You can read about this show in more detail at this blog post: Quebec Wrestling Adventure

December 14th was the final Limitless Wrestling event of the year in Yarmouth featuring the Limitless Rumble!  I love a good Royal Rumble match and this was the first one in Limitless Wrestling, it featured 30 competitors and was won by Channing Thomas.  Also on the show B3CCA made her return filling in for an injured Maggie Lee taking on Kylie Rae and Dezmond Cole defended the Limitless Championship against Calvin Tankman in a tremendous match. 

On the 17th I was back at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium for a double NXT taping.  I was shocked that this show as announced, but very excited to go back to Lowell and my first NXT show.  We sat in the same exact seats that we did for NJPW in November.  They opened with that evenings live show and then after taped next weeks Christmas Eve show.

Before the show we saw the D'Angelo Family across the street at Rizzo's Restaurant doing a pre-tape, we got our pictures taken with them.  On the first episode we got a fantastic Tag Team Title match and a NXT Championship match.  On the second taping I got to see Stephanie Vaquer and Charlie Dempsey wrestle two of my favorites in NXT.  This was a great show to end the year on!

I'm excited for next year and have a couple shows on deck already, 

January 12th: Limitless Wrestling in Herman

January 18th: Limitless Wrestling in Yarmouth

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment, check out my other posts, and if you want like my blogs Facebook page.  You can also head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of my book the 2024 Limitless Wrestling Almanac, or any of my other books.

Until next time!